Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro is back! We set to rest a rumor about the city banning farming and growing food (there is no plan to do that) and we finished up with a discussion about federal grant funding status. And we also covered a lot of ground in between. Listen in for a lively discussion with John and KPTZ’s Taylor Clark.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark was joined by Port Townsend Mayor David Faber and Director of Public Works Director Steve King as we discussed plans for road repair in the city. We talked about grants, ditches and drainage, substrates, chip seal, hot mix, asphalt, gravel, glacial till, and why our roads need so much work. We also heard some details about that flooding out on Hastings a few weeks ago and how it got fixed.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark was joined by Port Townsend Mayor David Faber and Centrum Executive Director Rob Birman as we talked over the background and future of the Fort Worden campus in light of this week’s closing of Fort Worden Hospitality, the organization that has provided food and beverage and lodging services at the Fort. Hospitality has ceased operations effective yesterday due to the legal uncertainties surrounding the insolvency of the Fort Worden PDA and the court’s appointment of a receiver at the request of Kitsap Bank. Check out our Thursday Local News report for more details on this. Rob outlined Centrum’s plans to continue with their full 2025 season of intergenerational arts and music.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro were joined by City Council member Libby Urner Wennstrom who is Port Townsend’s Council liaison to the Fort Worden PDA, so, of course, the PDA was a topic of discussion.

(Airdate: January 2, 2025) KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and co-host Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro were joined by Assistant City Engineer Jeff Kostechka and we talked about an upcoming workshop-style open house focused on improving walking, biking, and connectivity in our neighborhoods. This is part of the effort to update the Active Transportation Plan which is in turn part of the Comprehensive Plan update. The plan was originally created in 1997 and was last updated in 2010. The open house will be Wednesday, Jan 15 from 5:30 to 7:30pm at the Community Senior Center at Tyler and Lawrence in uptown Port Townsend.

Brewocracy Now was not cancelled this week due to the holidays. Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro returned from a short vacation and joined Taylor Clark as they discussed developments with the Fort Worden PDA as well as fielded a listener question about the possibility of housing on the some portion of golf course.

Taylor Clark was joined by Emma Bolin, Director of Planning and Community Development, and Adrian Smith, Long Range Planner for the City of Port Townsend. We discussed next steps in the process to develop and refine the 2026 Comprehensive Plan. An Active Transportation workshop will be held at the Uptown Senior Center in the Community Center at 620 Tyler Street starting at 5:30pm on January 15, 2025.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro welcomed Jeff Bohman of the Peninsula Trails Coalition. We talked about the history and future of his organization and of the Olympic Discovery Trail.

Taylor Clark and John Mauro welcomed Chimacum Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Mauk. We had an interesting discussion about change management – the process of having a vision of the future and then encouraging a good faith dialogue about what changes might be needed to move in that direction.